I was reading this post called Spirituality and Seduction and was struck by how much it resonates with the idea espoused by REBT practitioners of unconditional self acceptance. In either case, the idea is to stop worrying about who you are being and get on with the being of that who. Interestingly enough (although I have not seen the film) I think that these principals are also basically similar to those presented in The Secret. I was wrong.

Some argue that unconditional self acceptance leads to complacency, but that is not the idea. There is no conflict between accepting your self as you are now and setting goals for yourself. The important thing is not to dwell. The basic steps to being happy and content in life are: Accept yourself and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Set strong goals for what you want to achieve. Go about living your life, do not consciously try to set a plan to achieve your goals, do not try to control every step etc. This kind of true self acceptance and self trust is very hard to achieve, especially for engineers who are used to having a well defined sequence of steps before them in order to reach a goal.

The scientist in me says that what is happening is that I set goals for myself and by so doing set in motion a sort of background process which colors my general day-to-day choices in such a way that I achieve that. The great thing is that I don't have to do any _work_ for this to run its course. All I (that is my ego, the part of me that I am conscious of) must do is live in the moment. I get to enjoy all of the joy of day-to-day living and never need to worry about the longer term stuff.

On a personal note, earlier this year I realized that I needed a change -- that I was getting stuck in a rut. I'm thankful to the person who specifically pointed it out to me and to the people who reinforced it. I decided to unstick. 2 months later I had a new job. Another month later I lived in a new city and one more month has passed and I have my first house. There was no plan behind these things, just the decision to unstick. I didn't know quite what a wild ride that decision would turn out to be, but I sure as hell am glad that I made it.